Beaconsfield could soon follow in the footsteps of nearby Farnham Common, Hedgerley and Marlow and create its own community orchard, as a town council committee agreed to investigate the possibility.

A community orchard was one of 64 Vision for Beaconsfield (V4B) recommendations that were handed to the town council to look into and all those that are approved will become part of a town plan to improve Beaconsfield.

Friends of Holtspur Park are already working with Beaconsfield Town Council on plans for a cherry orchard in the park, but another orchard somewhere else in the town could be made a reality as the open spaces committee agreed to take the proposals forward for consideration by the town council.

Cllr Philip Bastiman, chair of the committee, said the plans are still vague at this early stage, but locations suggested in the V4B plan was Parkway Strip or land on the corner of Hedgerley Lane and Windsor End.

Cllr Bastiman argued that as Parkway Strip is next to the A40, it may not be an “ideal” location but said the question of what a community orchard actually is should be considered first of all.

He said: “It is understanding what is meant by community orchard and what it would achieve for people in the town and whether or not you can just plant a few trees in a certain area and get what you need.

“A concern we have as councillors is if fruit trees were planted somewhere, who would pick them? It is a nice idea to plant fruit trees and then people collect the fruit and get free fruit but it is not so good if people do not pick them because then you end up with a lot of throwing away.

“Anyone with fruit trees will know it creates a hell of a lot of mess. We need to think about it.”

Members of the open spaces committee and the town plan open spaces working group will look at the recently created orchard in Marlow as well as community orchards in Farnham Common and Hedgerley for ideas on how it could work.

Cllr Anita Cranmer suggested that Beaconsfield’s orchard could be funded by asking people to sponsor a tree, but Cllr Bastiman said maintaining the orchard is “just as important.”

Other recommendations that were approved by the committee and will be taken forward include enhancing and developing open spaces and getting rid of litter as well as planting wild flowers and bulbs and looking at creating a new playground in the town.